writing life update

I’ve already talked about my long-standing quest to fit writing time into my regular schedule. So how has that panned out, in this, The Age of King Baby?

Surprisingly well so far! The first four weeks went by in a blur of feeding and changing and watching TV shows we didn’t have time to watch when they actually aired. I had no room in my brain for anything else but healing and waking up every 2-3 hours for baby time.

BUT THEN.

Sputnik not only settled into a more stretched out nap and sleep schedule. He also developed his neck muscles enough that I would not break him by placing him in a front carrier. And this, my friends, this is how I get shit done in the morning:

Sleeeeep baby, sleeeeep

This isn’t going to work for very long, because he already weighs 13 pounds, which doesn’t sound like a lot until you strap it to your chest. I think the front carrier maxes out at 35 pounds or so, which is already well beyond what I’m willing to carry in this fashion. For now, I’ve been getting my email and blogging done while he takes a mid-morning doze.

As for creative writing, in order to keep myself from going stir crazy I set a goal of 1,000 words a day. I’ve missed a few days entirely (even running the most basic errands or going to a movie trashes the entire day!), but otherwise this has been completely doable! Most days the baby takes a few brief dozey naps like this, plus one mega 3 hour nap (strapped into either his car seat or his rumbly chair) and when that begins I run to the laptop and plug away as quickly as I can.

This has actually streamlined my process in a pleasantly surprising way. Whereas I used to set aside an entire Saturday, during which I had the luxury of puttering around for a couple hours before I actually got down to work, now I only have brief windows and have to take advantage of every minute. I’ve been dropping into the story immediately, getting my words done, and bailing. Pretty great! The quality of those words is up for debate, but that is a matter best left to the editing stage. There’s nothing to edit if you don’t slap down a draft in the first place.

Of course I’ve only got about 6 more weeks of this, and then I get to reconfigure all over again when I go back to work. I know myself well enough to know that this process will entail crazy mood swings until I get it figured out. Take away Sam’s writing time, and she plunges into a sea of existential distress. But I’m sure I’ll get it sorted in the end. This is, after all, just another chapter!